I'm subscribed to Magnus Carlsons YouTube channel and this morning I see there's a new upload. Exited I click on the video expecting to see a new game or commentary interview ect. But it had nothing to do with chess really and before I knew it I had just sat through a video on racial equality. This left me in a state of amused confusion for all the reasons you can imagine after watching the video. Of course this is a common occurrence in the states but I did not expect to see this in a Magnus Carlson video. The comment section is quite predictable.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFI3-W8FqoChess is already a prime example of how equal opportunity works. It doesn't matter which piece goes first, or even the color of the pieces. Equal opportunity is the notion that people have access to use their potential to the fullest. This is why in chess, players will alternate between playing the black and white pieces. No matter how hard you try to level the playing field, there will always be those less fortunate and more fortunate than you. We don't all come from the same place, and ideas of utopia just haven't been shown to be viable at scale. There will also always be people who put in less effort and people who put in more effort than you. Equality of opportunity will never mean equality of outcome because it is the individual who makes the choices that will define their outcome. At the end of the day, it comes down to protection under the law and education. I've seen cases where people pull the race or gender card when they're not putting in any effort whatsoever, and I've seen cases where discrimination happens and the victim chooses to let it go because they know that their work ethic and character is strong enough to overcome the adversity. I look forward to seeing more people act like decent humans because the relatively few actual racists left and the relatively few social justice warriors trying to force their radical group-think aren't helping anyone. I think this video is fine because it doesn't push a narrative of forced equilibrium, but I also think it's vague. I look forward to a followup where they explain more.
That is the most bizarre chess related video I have ever seen.
I have a Dream. That one day, my children will be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their repertoire.
???
The original rules of chess had black moving first. After centuries of this "advantage" the black pieces have reaped no reward. The queen had more limited power, so the game haws also become sexist. Let's settle this fairly and nuke everyone until they're all just the same colour of ash.
It's kind of sad. Note however that one thing is to be annoyed at this and to post a negative anonymous comment on Youtube, another one is to be a public figure, to be asked by Unesco to participate in such a campaign, and to refuse. It's a lot of pressure, especially when you don't really know better and are uncertain what you should think or do.
Still, I'm impressed at how massive the rejection is in the commentaries. Perhaps our culture has shifted in recent years on such topics, as I remember a time where no-one would have dared say anything. I would also guess that amateur chess players are a rather low-agreeableness lot leading to non-PC and contrarian attitudes. Also, chess probably functions for many as a way to take a break from the annoying things of real life, so such a video is particularly annoying because it brings back, within the "cozy" world of chess, the damn social issues.
I just noticed the comment have been disabled and there are more dislikes than likes now.
i wonder who the video was targeted towards, like specifically was this just a youtube video, or was this a television commercial? if so, what countries, channels was it played on, etc? or is just part of some social media thing campaign?
my guess is that its not really aimed at chess players at all. some patzer who works for the campaign ad company probably had the idea, and they had enough pull to get some pro chess players to do it.
ultimately, I think the whole video was a mistake. chess is really bad example. ok, black goes first now? does that solve anything? no...now black has the advantage white used to. you aimed for equality and made literally zero improvement. instead of black goes first, it would have made more sense to do some other analogy, like both players move at the same time, or each color gets the first move in alternating games (which is basically the same thing as players alternating the white pieces, but whatever). any of those options would have been a bit smarter with a better message of equality. i know they dont really neccesarily make sense in chess, but no one is going to be playing first as the black pieces anyways, so not like that makes it difference. again, i think it wasnt aimed at chess players. so having the two pros play on some online realtime chess would have been just as novel and cute to the non-chess audience.
I've seen chess sets with red and green pieces. (Also with other colors and different types of pieces, ie. Star Wars, Civil War, ...) Are people going to be ignorant enough to claim that this is discrimination against the Native Americans or aliens? Shall we give ever chess piece the same powers/movements so they are equal?
Let's all give up playing this game and play checkers. Here the piece gets rewarded (kinged) for doing well (reaching the opposite side of the board). But then the deranged would still claim racism due to black moving first.
